General Carl von Clausewitz defined the center of gravity as the objective whose achievement results in the enemy's total defeat. We must therefore identify this single objective or, in a political controversy, a single issue, and concentrate our resources accordingly. In the case of the "assault weapon" debate, this is the basic and natural human right of self-defense. If we present the argument correctly, the other side has absolutely no defense whatsoever. The Target Audience: Swing Voters and the Opposing Rank and File Colonel Paul Linebarger's Psychological Warfare states clearly that any communication whose purpose is to influence attitudes, beliefs,...

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — Another one of the many military jobs on the front lines of combat may be opening to women: Flying the high-tech helicopters that move special forces under cover of darkness for missions like the one that killed Osama bin Laden in Pakistan. The Army's most elite aviation unit has proposed a test program to let women serve as pilots and crew chiefs, pending congressional approval. The 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment, based at Fort Campbell, Ky., and known as the Night Stalkers, decided to give women a trial as pilots and crew chiefs as part of...

The White House has released a picture purporting to show President Obama "skeet shooting" at Camp David. An activity he claims he does "all the time." The White House also warns all you mischievous internet types to not mess around with the picture: "This official White House photograph is being made available only for publication by news organizations and/or for personal use printing by the subject(s) of the photograph. The photograph may not be manipulated in any way and may not be used in commercial or political materials, advertisements, emails, products, promotions that in any way suggests approval or endorsement...

So the economy created 157,000 new payroll jobs in January. Wow. At this rate, we might actually get back down to Bush-era unemployment rates sometime, oh, within the next 100 years. The January jobs report is supposed to be good news. After all, the economy has now added a total of 6.1 million jobs over the past three years, and the BLS revised last year's jobs numbers sharply upward. But it doesn't take much effort to notice that, when it comes to job creation, we are barely treading water. Case in point: Despite these "big" gains, unemployment climbed to 7.9%...

WASHINGTON (CBSDC) - The results of a new study indicate that suicide rates among veterans in the United States are increasing. An estimated 22 military veterans take their lives every day in America, according to the study helmed by Robert Bossarte, an epidemiologist and researcher who works with the Department of Veterans Affairs. While the percentage of all suicides reported as Veterans has decreased, the number of suicides has increased,” the conclusion of the study stated. Specific trends were observed during the course of the study regarding the age and gender of veterans who most frequently committed suicide. “A majority...

WRIGHTSVILLE, Ga. — A dollar store employee has been arrested for simple battery after whipping a customer's child with a belt. WMAZ-TV (http://on.wmaz.com/WGbiFw ) reports surveillance cameras inside a Wrightsville dollar store recorded an 8-year-old boy running around the store and eventually throwing a cookie jar at 39-year-old Emilia Graciela Bell. Authorities say Bell took off her belt, chased the boy down and spanked him behind the counter. The boy's father called police and Bell was taken into custody. Police said she was free on bond Friday.

Aaron Klein, owner of Sweet Cakes in Gresham, Oregon, is the subject of a state investigation after one of the brides-to-be filed a complaint. An Oregon baker has refused to make a wedding cake for a lesbian couple, allegedly calling them 'abominations unto the Lord.' Aaron Klein, owner of Sweet Cakes in Gresham, is the subject of a state investigation after one of the brides-to-be filed a complaint. The woman claims Klein refused to take an order from her partner when he learned the cake was for a gay marriage. Oregon Attorney General's civil enforcement office is now looking into...

Hezbollah in Yucatán Posted on January 30, 2013 by Baron Bodissey As mentioned here many times in the past, the southern border of the United States is porous not just to Mexicans, Salvadorans, and Guatemalans, but also to Islamic terrorists. Operatives from Al Qaeda and Hezbollah acquire a Latin American passport and enough Spanish to allow their swarthiness to pass as Latino.This latest report concerns the arrival of a Hezbollah associate in Mexico. Many thanks to Iz-M (via Vlad) for the translation from Diario de Yucatán: More signs of the presence of HezbollahLabboun Rafic Mohammed, the Muslim cleric allegedly linked...

The air raid over the Jamraya military complex near Damascus Wednesday, Jan. 30, attributed to Israel by Western sources was Israeli’s first assault on the Syrian-Hizballah military compact forged between Bashar Assad and Hassan Nasrallah. That was the real strategic import of the operation, which took place with the approval of US President Barack Obama, military sources report. In every other respect, it was a surgical strike on a well-defined target, comparable to Israel’s attack in September 2007 on the nuclear reactor North Korea was building at El Kabir in northern Syria. The object then was to sever the Syrian-Iranian-North...

PRINCETON, NJ -- Residents of Hawaii, along with those living in the District of Columbia, were most likely to approve of President Barack Obama in 2012, according to an analysis of Gallup Daily tracking for the year. Residents of Utah and Wyoming were least likely to approve, with fewer than three in 10 residents giving Obama a positive review. The full results by state appear on page 2. The states with the highest and lowest approval ratings are generally similar from year to year, with some shuffling of the rank ordering. This year, only one of the top 10 states...

One of former New York City Mayor Ed Koch's last interviews before his death on Friday came in Vanity Fair's Proust Questionnaire. The most interesting part of the Q&A came when he was asked who was what living person he "most despise[s]." ... Which living person do you most despise? Former president Jimmy Carter.

In the wake of the Sandy Hook school shooting we all knew that an impending gun debate would be a hard fought battle. Just after this week’s hearing on Capitol Hill, a new Forbes study finds that the NRA is winning the influence battle over gun control. In the new study performed by Forbes Insights, an independent and unbiased organization, they found that the “NRA and the pro-gun rights voices are winning the influence battle and will continue to be strong and more influential if the pro gun control voice remains fragmented”. The data was compiled from the week before...

Despite its socialist origins, our moonbat rulers don’t like the Pledge of Allegiance because it stinks of patriotism. At Rocky Mountain High School in Fort Collins, a compromise has been reached; students have recited the pledge over the intercom in Arabic: First, the students translated the Pledge of Allegiance and read it in French. Then they recited the pledge in Spanish last fall. Monday, students read the pledge in Arabic. “We have a tremendous amount of diversity in our school,” [principal Tom] Lopez said. “This is very American, not un-American.” America has succeeded as a society because of its ability...

US Vice President Joe Biden is visiting Germany this week in an effort to strengthen trans-Atlantic ties. Global politics have come to a standstill in recent years, with the United States unwilling to show leadership and Europe and other major powers unable to fill the vacuum. … You would think it were high time for Obama to jump back into the saddle before he gets reduced to a lame-duck status. But no matter how many blinding smiles the notoriously perky Biden flashes in Berlin and Munich, this is probably too much to expect. Of course, this gives rise to the...

Al Gore said President Barack Obama was forced to be cautious during his first term in office because of the “propaganda” served up by Fox News and talk radio that created a “hostile environment for progressive ideas.” The former vice president — who has been on somewhat of a media whirlwind since the sale his Current TV to Arab news network Al-Jazeera — made the comment during an interview to promote his latest book with PBS’ Charlie Rose this week in New York. “I think it has been a pretty hostile environment for progressive ideas,” Gore said. “And why is...

Police sources tell 7 Action News that a women's basketball coach from Martin Luther King, Jr. Senior High School shot two men who attacked him as he was walking two basketball players to their cars in the school parking lot. Police sources say the coach was walking the two girls to their cars when two men allegedly approached and one pulled out a gun and grabbed him by his chain necklace. The coach then pulled out his gun and shot both of them, according to sources. The man who shot the attackers was 70 years old, according to police. One...

Last June, a pulp-fiction thriller was published in Paris under the title “Le Chemin de Damas.” Its lurid green-and-black cover featured a busty woman clutching a pistol, and its plot included the requisite car chases, explosions and sexual conquests. Unlike most paperbacks, though, this one attracted the attention of intelligence officers and diplomats on three continents. Set in the midst of Syria’s civil war, the book offered vivid character sketches of that country’s embattled ruler, Bashar al-Assad, and his brother Maher, along with several little-known lieutenants and allies. It detailed a botched coup attempt secretly supported by the American and...

Turkey's state-run news agency says a missing New York City woman has been found dead in Istanbul. Sarai Sierra, a 33-year-old mother of two, went missing while vacationing alone in Istanbul. She was last heard from on Jan. 21, the day she was due back home.

Minneapolis Mayor, R.T. Rybak, has a strong message for makers of guns and ammunition who do business with the city. Mayor Rybak says he wants them to be partners in the pursuit of "common sense" gun control reform. The city buys about a million dollars worth of guns and ammunition each year for police. The primary vendors are Remington, Federal Ammunition and Smith & Wesson. The Mayor says he wants to dig a little deeper into the backgrounds of those companies. Mayor Rybak tells 5 EYEWITNESS NEWS, "if they want to be partners with us, we will work with them....

12 Charts That Will Make Gold Bulls Furious Joe WeisenthalFebruary 2, 2013, 10:48 AM The anti-gold bandwagon is getting more and more crowded. Analysts Tom Kendall and Ric Deverell of Credit Suisse is out with a bombshell report this morning titled: Gold: The Beginning Of The End Of An Era. The article argues that the 2011 peak of $1921 was the top, and that now the run of the cult metal is coming to an end. The argument essentially boils down to two arguments, which are related. The first is that we're seeing rate normalization. When real interest rates are...